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Hopkins wins Broadgate estate overhaul contest

The AJ can reveal that Hopkins has been asked to look at the next stage of the overhaul of the 1980s Broadgate office complex in the City of London

British Land appointed the practice earlier this week to draw up design proposals for the refurbishment of 100 Liverpool Street and 8-12 Broadgate and ‘to enhance the retail and public amenity associated with those buildings’.

Hopkins was shortlisted against Arup Associates, Bennetts Associates and Stanton Williams in the contest for the next phase of development at the Postmodern campus, which was designed by Peter Foggo while he was at Arup Associates.

Demolition work has already begun on Make’s contentious proposals to replace 5 Broadgate with a £340 million headquarters for investment bank UBS (pictured below) while Arup Associates has recently submitted plans to rework the estate’s iconic arena by dropping the central space 1.5m (AJ 09.05.12).

A future timescale for Hopkins’ plans are not yet known.

Previous story (AJ 07.06.2012)

Four asked to work up vision for overhaul of Broadgate estate

The AJ can reveal that Arup Associates, Bennetts Associates, Hopkins and Stanton Williams have been asked to look at the overhaul of the 1980s Broadgate office complex in the City of London

Developer British Land is understood to have already had initial interviews with the practices about various redevelopment options for phases one to four of the Postmodern campus, which was designed by Peter Foggo while he was at Arup Associates.

An insider said the landowner was looking for a ‘vision’ for the entire estate and had asked the firms to work up a masterplan approach for the site.

A source added that any future development of the campus would ‘not just be tinkering’.

The news comes less than a month after it emerged Arup Associates has submitted plans to rework Broadgate’s iconic arena (pictured) by dropping the central space by about 1.5m and adding seven new restaurants and six new kiosks (AJ 09.05.12).

English Heritage has already said that it is ‘comfortable’ with the plans, which, it claimed, did not ‘impact on the specialness of the public space’.

Last year English Heritage failed to get the Postmodern office campus Grade-II* listed in a bid to halt Make’s controversial proposals for 5 Broadgate (AJ 15.06.11).

It is understood the organisation is still considering its advice on a bid by British Land to secure immunity from listing certificates for the centrepiece arena and a large chunk of the estate, including phases 1 and 2 (see full list below). These represent the main elements of Broadgate turned down for statutory protection by culture minister Jeremy Hunt last June and which the developer is now looking to remodel.

However the Twentieth Century Society, which ‘fully expects to be consulted on the immunity for listing application’ has raised concerns about the arena proposals.

Senior caseworker Henrietta Billings said the society was worried about how the lowering of the stage ‘would impact on the overall public space’.

Asked to comment on the four-way architectural contest for the wider redevelopment, a spokesman for British Land said: ‘We continuously review future options for our portfolio of buildings and, as a result, work with a large number of architects.

‘We do not comment on those discussions or our future plans for buildings in the portfolio until they are more advanced.’

Areas covered by the Certificate for Immunity from Listing applications

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